A FAMILY have warned dog-lovers to choose carefully when picking their pet after a teen was savaged by a Staffordshire bull terrier.

Liam Gibson, 14, needed 40 stitches for a cheek wound and plastic surgery to reconstruct his face after the dog, called Floyd, attacked him.

The animal locked his jaws into Liam’s cheek and kept a grip until dad David pulled him away.

Doctors said if the dog had bitten a millimetre higher Liam would have lost an eye.

Floyd also sank his teeth into Liam’s mum Rhona’s arm when she attempted to help her son.

David, 45, from Hamilton, said: “The dog was lying on top of Liam and had his jaws clamped on his cheek.

“There was blood everywhere – it was all over Liam’s face, arms and legs. The animal was bloodthirsty.

“I pulled it away and held it tightly. It was down on its hind quarters, showing its teeth and growling, ready to attack again.

“I hate to think what would have happened if it had attacked a young child. We could have been dealing with a death.”

Liam said: “I knelt down down on the floor and the dog went for me. I blacked out and can’t remember anything else.

“I’m now wary of that breed and would urge people to be careful when picking dogs. You don’t know what you’re getting into.”

David paid £115 to get the dog from the Scottish SPCA’s animal rescue and rehoming centre in Hamilton in March.

He has called for the Scottish SPCA to tighten up their procedures.

He said: “There was a slight indication things weren’t right when we brought the dog home. When I fed it a biscuit, it was aggressive. You would have thought the Scottish SPCA would have picked that up.

“Floyd was found as a stray. We didn’t know his history but he didn’t show any signs of aggression in our care.

“We advised he was suitable to live in a household with older children based on his behaviour during his four weeks at the centre. When we contacted the owners in a routine follow-up a month after they rehomed Floyd, they said that everything was going well.

“If there was any indication this could happen, we would not have rehomed Floyd.”

Police Inspector Gillian Scott said: “Police removed the dog and it was destroyed at the request of the owner.”